1952 – Page 3 – Old Magazine Articles

Whatever Happened to Evelyn Nesbit?
(People Today, 1952)

She had been a key figure in the most spectacular murder trial of the Gilded Age. An artist’s model, a Broadway chorus girl, the obsession of crazed millionaire and the play thing of one of America’s greatest architects; her beauty was legend – driving men to do the sorts of things that they knew were wrong. Her name was Evelyn Nesbit (1884 – 1967) and when that era faded into obscurity, so did she; until the hard-charging reporters of PEOPLE TODAY found her decades later – in the Land of Fruits and Nuts (Southern California), where the celebrities of yesteryear all go to find themselves.

Whither Latin?
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)

This article charts the decline of Latin as an academic study in American schools. The disappearance of Latin began in the Thirties and steadily snowballed to such a point that by 1952 its absence was finally noticed.

Is Latin on its way out in high schools? The answer is a confident ‘NO.’
It’s hard to see how it can go any lower,’ declares Dr. John F. Latimer, head of Latin studies
at George Washington University.

GI Joe and the Women of Japan…
(Pic Magazine, 1952)

Although this article is illustrated with imagery depicting American men and Japanese women appearing to genuinely be enjoying one another’s company, the accompanying text says something quite different. The article centers on the observations of the woman who heads the YWCA in Japan who insists that the vulgar Americans stationed in that country are coercing Japanese women to become prostitutes. The journalist then goes into some detail as to what a big business prostitution in Japan has become and how many illegitimate births have resulted.

What’s in that Brooklyn Water?
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

2013 marked the 100th year since the first film was made in Hollywood, and in that time one American neighborhood more than any other has consistently supplied the film and television industry with a seemingly inexhaustible pool of talent: Brooklyn, New York. From Clara Bow in the era of silent film to Gabby Sidibe in the digital – the talented sons and daughters of Brooklyn have made their way West and we have all been the beneficiaries.

A Hollywood Movie in Japan
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

We were sympathetic when we learned that the Japanese did not much care for the movies Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Back to Bataan (1945) or David Lean’s masterpiece Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – but when we heard that they hated Sands of Iwo Jima (1952) – we finally realized that there are some people you simply cannot please. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who felt this way: the editors of QUICK MAGAZINE were so outraged on this matter they dispatched a reporter to document the venom that spewed-forth from those Japanese lips as they left the theater.

A Victory for the Associated Press
(Coronet Magazine, 1952)

Wishing not to give away the ending to this ironic story, we will not post the stereotypical summation that is so unique to this site; we can only say that this single page anecdote, the result of European military pageantry and tradition, could only have been generated in the age of mass-media.

Congress Examines the Morals Portryed on T.V.
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

This article is illustrated with a single television image of the Hollywood actress Ilona Massey exposing her highly charming decolletage for all the world to see. The image alone can be credited for having launched a dozen Congressional hearings concerning the matter as to what is a television programmers singular understanding of public decency? Yet this short column only discusses one hearing, the one that took place in the Summer of 1952 in which Elizabeth Smart of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union spoke frankly about the alleged amusement that the networks were providing. Another temperance group in attendance complained that the actors on beer commercials should not appear as if they were enjoying themselves…

Forced Into Communism
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

In his illustrated five page reminiscence, former Communist refugee Ivan Pluhar (b. 1927), recalls those dreadful days following the end of the Second World War when it became clear to all the citizens of Czechoslovakia that their Soviet liberators would never leave their country. The article will clue you in as to what life was like during the earliest years of the occupation and how dissenters were treated throughout that period.

A Quick Read About Soviet-Enforced Atheism
Behind the Iron Curtain…

The Discovery of Audrey Hepburn
(People Today, 1952)

American audiences came to know Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) when she was teamed up with Gregory Peck for the 1953 William Wyler production Roman Holiday (Paramount) – but the king makers of Hollywood sat up and took notice of her a year earlier, when she appeared in the European comedy Monte Carlo Baby (briefly reviewed herein). This movie was pretty quickly forgotten – and today Monte Carlo Baby cannot be found on DVD or cassette, and the film’s producer, Ray Ventura (1908 – 1979), is primarily remembered for his talents as a jazz pianist.

Stalin at 72
(Coronet Magazine, 1952)

When the attached article hit the newsstands in May of 1952 Joseph Stalin had less than a year to live and like most totalitarians living on borrowed time, the heavily guarded diminutive dictator had his public appearances drastically reduced in number:

Today he lives in isolation unrivaled by any monarch since the Pharaohs. He must have forgotten what he himself once told the historian Emil Ludwig: ‘Any man on a high pinnacle is lost the instant he loses touch with the masses.’

The article has a fair amount of Stalin minutia you might find interesting.

College Essentials
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

Here are a few short paragraphs accompanied by nine images concerning what the college girls of the early Fifties were wearing:

A girl can still get into college with a sweater and skirt, but for full credit she needs quantities of gadgets. For campus, girls stick to classic Brooks Brothers sweaters, pleated skirts, blue jeans – but go wild on accessories and underwear novelties…

The journalist then went to some effort listing many of the fashionable essentials: stamp bracelets, rhinestone handcuff bracelets, silk pleated turtleneck sweaters and harness-neck bib fronts – all to die for.

White Bucks and the College Look
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

As college girls talked back to school, it was clear that they had switched their allegiances from saddle shoes
to a new favorite: white bucks. The girls predicted they wouldn’t be white long.

Reference is also made to the rounded-button-collar dress shirts that were appearing on the backs of so many college men at that time.

Hair Fashions of the Early 1950s
(People Today, 1952)

Keep it short: that was the M.O. of the hairdressers of the Fifties (as you, no doubt, gathered from this 1949 article) – and this column, accompanied by eight photos, serves as proof. Much of this column pertains to the men who were active in 1952 hair dressing, and their deep thoughts pertaining to pny tails, perms and poodle-cuts.

Click here to read about the short hair craze of the late Forties.

Popcorn Finds a Home at the Movies
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

Popcorn was introduced as a snack food to American movie-goers as a result of the candy shortages during the earliest years of the Second World War.

Attached is a petite notice documenting the fact that the substitute was a wise one:

By 1952, movie houses accounted for about one-third of the nation’s annual $350 million retail popcorn sales.

Reference is also made to the efforts that were made to secure noiseless popcorn bags.

If popcorn replaced sweets on the home front, what replaced steak?

The Timeless Comedy of Bob and Ray
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

A single page from the petite pages of the short-lived magazine QUICK, heralding the arrival of the Bob and Ray radio show:

Two young fugitives from from a Boston radio station (W.H.D.H.) ,Bob Elliott (b. 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990) were proving that radio – and some 15 million listeners – could take anything. In exchange for lampooning radio’s most sacred cows – soap operas and commercials – Bob and Ray now have four separate radio shows (two on NBC’s network; two on NBC’s New York station), were on the air five days a week…

President Hoover and the Bonus Marchers
(Collier’s Magazine, 1952)

This is President Herbert Hoover’s recollection as to how his administration addressed the mass demonstrations of W.W. I veterans in need of relief. It is very different from the version recalled in high school history books in that Hoover stated that the order to burn the Anacostia shacks came from General MacArthur, not him.

Read about the the mood of the Great Depression and how it was reflected in the election of 1932 – click here…

‘Don’t Blame Me”
(Collier’s Magazine, 1952)

In this 1952 article, Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States (1929 – 1933) painstakingly explained why he was not responsible for the Great Depression.

U.S. Air Force Spots UFOs Over War-Torn Korea
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

In the midst of the Korean War, two American squadrons of B-29 bombers spotted UFOs flying high above the towns of Suchon and Wonson. Attached are excerpts from two newspaper editorials on the subject.